On The Dramatic Performances Of Light And Shadow In Painting

Edward Hopper(1882-1967),an influential realist painter in the 20th century American art world,used a simple,sensitive and metaphorical visual rhetoric in his numerous paintings of urban landscapes and people to sketch the social landscape and the mental state of people in the United States during the Great Depression.This paper focuses on the representation of light and shadow in Edward Hopper’s works,and separates them from the universal concepts of elements that constitute the relationship between sketches and the basic means of shaping forms in a picture,and explores their dramatic visual effects and aesthetic imagery as an independent object,as well as their role in creating the overall mood of the picture.At the same time,this paper places Edward Hopper’s artistic practice in the context of the European and American art of the first half of the 20th century and the overall cultural context,exploring the value of his in-depth exploration based on the ontological language of painting and the influence of his dramatic style of light and shadow expression on the comprehensive art of painting and even film at that time.In terms of practical creation,the author draws on and incorporates Edward Hopper’s linguistic approach of constructing images with dramatic light and shadow,and brings in his personal experience in Chinese painting,using a combination of materials such as rice paper,rock paint,iron powder,and plaster,etc.,to break through the flat spatial structure of easel painting and pursue a visual presentation that tends to be three-dimensional and strongly textured,deconstructing and juxtaposing a series of life scenes and visual fragments,so as to express his personal perception of the environment he lives in at the moment and to express his own personal feelings.He deconstructs and juxtaposes a series of life scenes and visual fragments to express his personal perception and psychological state of the current environment.The graduation work "The Lonely Place" is a series of works that continue the above-mentioned creative rationale.The author intends to emphasize the contrast between man-made and natural objects,such as architecture,and to depict different forms of "light and shadow" as the main subject of expression in the paintings,interpreting the changes of the surrounding environment and the creator’s spiritual feelings and experiences in an obscure and poetic way.In this way,the artist interprets in a subtle and poetic way the changes in the surrounding environment and the feelings and experiences of the creator.